What Remains
by Rude's Mom
Summary: Decades later, the Tok'ra return to Earth.
1. Chapter 1

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

Season: Future; spoilers through season 8's Threads (although _slightly_ AU)

Warning: Character death.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1. It belongs to Sony/MGM, Gekko, and others.

* * *

**Garshaw of Belote**

It had been nearly a half-century since the last time she visited Earth. Her host had been uncomfortable with the idea but eventually had agreed that it was time.

The Tok'ra alliance with Earth had been an uneasy one at best. Neither side truly trusting the other. She couldn't find it within herself to blame them anymore. The Tok'ra had been fixated on the destruction of the System Lords for millenia. Nothing else had mattered. Everything was dedicated to the Cause. The Tau'ri lacked that level of commitment, or so the Tok'ra thought. In the early years, Jacob/Selmac had been able to smooth over many things. His relationship with SG-1 and Stargate Command had provided the foundation for the alliance. His death had proved that the foundation was built on sand.

The alliance began crumbling almost immediately. The High Council decided that Anise/Freya would replace Jacob/Selmac as laison. SG-1 and General O'Neill couldn't stand them, especially Anise. If Garshaw had known all of the details surrounding Anise's experiments the Ancient armbands, she would have demanded that the Council chose another Tok'ra. She found out much too late and the mistrust had deepened.

The final blow to the alliance was the loss of SG-1. Acting on information provided by the Tok'ra, they had walked straight into a trap. Only Daniel Jackson had made to back to the SGC, more dead than alive. By the time the Council realized the enormity of their error and Garshaw went so far as to lead a rescue mission herself, it was too late.

The Tau'ri placed their hopes on their alliance with the Jaffa rebellion despite the lost of Teal'c. It had been a wise choice. The Jaffa provided a fifth column, valuable intelligence, and numbers. The Tau'ri provided coordination, supplies, and strike teams. The Tau'ri also worked to open diplomatic relations with other worlds, something that the Jaffa, and the Tok'ra, usually had great difficulty with. The Tau'ri continued to benefit from their relationship with the Asgard, bringing advanced technology to the fight.

The Tok'ra were relegated to minor players in the war that they had begun so long ago. From time to time, the Tok'ra provided assistance to the Tau'ri or Jaffa, trying to rebuild what had been lost. The war had ended before the old wounds healed.

Now, as she waited for the finally chevrons to be encoded, she wondered what she would find on the other side.

**Jack O'Neill**

He really, really, didn't want to be here. Damn brass insisted. Oh, wait, he was one of the damned brass. Major General Jack O'Neill, Jr., at your service. Although in this case, maybe it should be at your disservice.

He would have retired if he thought it would get him out of this. But no, the remaining brass would have dragged his sorry ass back for this historic occasion anyway. Just like they dragged back everyone else they could track down from the original SGC. Despite advances in medicine over that last half century, there weren't that many left though. Hell, **_he_** wasn't even a member of the original SGC. That had been the other Jack O'Neill. He was just the clone for crying out loud. Why did he have to be there?

There had been many things that he had missed while waiting to rejoin the SGC— commissary jello, Carter's technobabble, Carter... The Tok'ra, apart from Jacob, he did not miss. If they were sending Anise, he'd shoot her, consquences be damned. She had been the source of the intel that cost them SG-1.

Neither O'Neill recovered from the loss. They both went through the motions, continuing on with their lives. According to Cassie, the wedding to Kerry went off right on schedule. Jack still couldn't understand why O'Neill had been engaged to her in the first place. They had been in love with Carter. Yes, the regulations stood in the way for one and a massive age difference for the other but still... O'Neill's second marriage had ended in divorce within a year and he ended his days in Minnesota, fishing in a pond without fish. Jack didn't make the same mistake. Oh, he had relationships over the years but he didn't kid himself. He had loved two women in his life, Sara and Carter, and even though they were both gone now, he wasn't going to settle for second best.

He looked up from his desk as his aide entered the office.

"I guess we'd better head to the gateroom."

**Sam Carter**

She still didn't think it was a good idea but Garshaw and the Council were adament. It was time. But for her, there were too many bad memories associated with their destination. Twenty-eight stories beneath a mountain, the SGC only represented pain and loss. It had become crypt for all of her hopes and dreams. She had lost too many over the years. Martouf, Narim, Janet, her father, Daniel, Teal'c, and O'Neill. Funny how the only one who didn't actually die on her was the one that still hurt the most.

She had made a terrible mistake turning to Pete all those years ago. She knew it and broken it off within a few months but it was too late. Jack had found somebody else. She thought she had died and gone to hell it hurt so much.

Then came the mission from hell. Despite assurances from Anise, the Ancient ruins were not deserted. The team had been separated when they had fallen under heavy fire. Her 2iC was killed immediately and she was mortally wounded. Teal'c and Daniel were trying to make it back to the gate when they were strafed by a death glider. The Goa'uld who had set up the ambush used a sarcophagus to revive her. She spent the next year in his not so tender care before Garshaw rescued her.

She declined to return to the SGC and joined the Tok'ra. With her team dead, there wasn't anybody other than Cassie to return to. She became a host a few years later. Now, decades later, she was returning to where it all began. She wondered if anyone would recognize Garshaw's host as the late Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter.

She stepped through the stargate.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

Season: Future; spoilers through season 8

* * *

**Jennifer Haley**

She had spent most of her military career in the mountain. With the loss of Lt. Colonel Carter, she had quickly become the leading expert on the Stargate. Her only serious competion, the incredibly annoying Rodney McKay, had been on the Atlantis team. Her rise through the ranks had been slower than she would have liked but she wouldn't have traded her posting for anything. It had been the job of a lifetime. It still was. After her retirement two years earlier as a full colonel, she had signed on as a civilian consultant.

She looked around at the other old-timers gathered in the gateroom for today's "festivities." Damn, she hated the Pentagon PR department for bringing a film crew to this event. Have some coffee, go to makeup, spill your guts in front of the camera please. The important stuff was still classified so their questions were inane at best. The science portion didn't make for good sound bites and the rest? How do you describe over four decades of war? How do you describe over four decades of war in family-friendly way? The loss of countless colleagues and friends?

She, like her late mentor, never married. She had watched her fellow officers struggle with trying to balance family life with the secret war being waged from the mountain. Even the first General O'Neill had failed to make it work, despite his wife having clearance. This was a posting for the single, the widowed, the divorced. The mountain claimed too many lives for it to be otherwise.

She didn't see Jack yet which wasn't much of a surprise. This had to be even more painful for him than for her. She had made friends with the younger O'Neill when he arrived to the SGC as a newly minted lieutenant.He had cut his ties to his former teammates when he decided to return to high school as keeping contact would have just been "too weird." The elder Jack never told him about SG-1. No one had. He had shown up at the mountain expecting to see his old team. She was the one that had to tell him. He still hadn't forgiven the Tok'ra, or the other Jack. Now he was under orders to make nice and smile for the cameras. Oh yeah, he was probably still hiding in his office.

**JD**

As he followed Anise through the stargate, he felt a sense of trepidation. He had petitioned the High Council for permission to accompany Garshaw and was somewhat surprised when they agreed. This was the first direct contact with his mother's homeworld in many years and he was, after all, a mere infant by their standards.

He had been an infant by just about everyone's standards when the final breakdown of the Tok'ra alliance with Earth occurred. Direct contact had been cut off shortly after the loss of SG-1. Since then, the Tok'ra had managed to feed critical information to the SGC through various third parties. Earth had wanted no part of the Tok'ra at the time and his mother and aunt had been instrumental in setting up a series of fronts to obscure the source of the information. The tensions had eased over time but the mistrust remained.

He didn't know much about Earth. The sadness that shadowed his mother only became deeper when she spoke of Earth so he learned at an early age that it was a topic best left alone. "Aunt" Anise and her host had been more forthcoming although their knowledge of the Tau'ri homeworld was fairly limited. They were to able to tell him about the men whose names he bore. As he grew older, he realized that Anise had been more than fond of one of them. He knew his mother was unhappy with the council's decision to send Garshaw to Earth. That was why, beyond curiosity, he had to come.

**Daniel Jackson**

He still didn't believe he had agreed to come back. He still didn't believe that the Pentagon had bothered to find him. After the loss of rest of his team, he left the SGC. Not immediately, but soon after. He had been badly wounded and knew he would never go through the gate again. After more than a year of physical therapy, he could walk after a fashion but he would never regain his old mobility. He had accepted that, just as he had accepted the loss of his teammates. What he couldn't accept, and what finally made him leave the SGC, was Jack's behavior afterwards.

The SG-1 had been friends for years. They had gone through bad patches but at the end of the day, Daniel had always thought that they were friends, family even. It was after his promotion to general that Jack began to distance himself from them. Sam said it was the military way. Maybe it was, but after that last mission, Jack acted as though he barely remembered, or ever cared about, his old team. Daniel thought that they could work through it. He had been wrong.

In the weeks preceeding that final, ill-fated mission, something had been wrong at the SGC. There was nothing he could put a finger on at the time. Strange silences when SG-1 entered a room, the odd look in the hallway. Sam had become increasingly tense. At the time, he thought it was due to her father's death and her breakup with the cop. During the early days of his recovery, before being moved from the SGC infirmary to a nursing home for physical therapy, he found out that there were rumors making the rounds about Sam and how she came by her promotions. Talk that she wasn't fit to comand SG-1 and was going to be transferred out of the SGC altogether. Nothing blatent, just a hint here, a look there. There had been enough new personnel, as well as a few jealous colleagues, that the gossip found fertile ground. Even with Sam dead, the talk didn't stop. It was as if someone wanted to make sure her reputation was dead as well.

He tried to talk to Jack about what was happening. Jack shut him out. Daniel resigned from the SGC before completing PT. The Pentagon, loathe to lose their favorite archaeologist, convinced him to work at Area 51. He spent a few years there before finding a teaching position at a small college on the east coast. While he kept in contact with some of his old friends at the SGC, he never saw or spoke to Jack again.

Now he was back and once again there was a Jack O'Neill in charge of the SGC if his escort was to be believed. He shouldn't have been surprised. He had known the clone was destined for the Academy with an eye to getting him back into the SCG. He hoped this one wasn't the complete ass that the other had become.

Bringing his mind back to the present, he watched the iris open and the first of the Tok'ra delegation arrive. Lovely, they sent Anise. He didn't recognize the second figure through the gate. The third and final figure was quite a shock. The hair was too dark but he would have recognized that face anywhere. He just never expected to see it again. After all, Sam Carter was supposed to be dead.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

Season: Future; spoilers through season 8

Author Note: Conversations between host and symbiote appear /between slashes/.

* * *

Daniel watched as the last of the Tok'ra hesitated for a moment on the ramp. He might be old but he wasn't senile. The third Tok'ra, that was Sam. What the hell had happened on P5X-719?

Sam heard the gate shut down behind her and looked around the gateroom. It hadn't changed much. The actual gateroom that is. Security, on the other hand, was certainly lax these days. The System Lords might be defeated but there were there were too many non-essential personnel in the gateroom. What kind of idiot would allow it? If the team of SFs on hand needed to open fire they were going to have a problem with friendly fire. Somehow, she didn't think that the gray heads in the crowd would be able to get down fast enough. And what was it with all the number of old...

Holy Hannah! Was that elderly man Paul Davis? Her eyes swept over the crowd. She thought she saw Haley and the tall man with a stoop in the back row, could that be Siler?

/Garshaw, please take over. I can't do this./

/Sam/

/That's Paul Davis. They must have brought him out of retirement. I think that they brought a lot of people back. I can't do this. Not yet./

Sam dipped her head as Garshaw took control.

JD turned back when he failed to hear his mother follow him down the ramp. Her body language was wrong. He moved back up the ramp and quietly asked, "Garshaw?"

"Yes. It seems as if the Tau'ri have arranged for a reunion of the original SGC. Sam was not expecting it."

"Is she alright?"

"She will be. She's stronger than she knows."

"Do you think that they will recognize her?"

"She has changed much since I first met her. And, in truth, they have thought her dead for nearly forty of their years."

JD smiled slightly. Maybe that was part of the problem between the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri. Never give a direct answer when indirect would suffice. He offered his arm to Garshaw and escorted her down the ramp and to a small stage to his right.

Daniel watched the interplay between the two with interest. Her hair was longer, darker, and her face was noticeably thinner, but it was Sam. The other Tok'ra seemed vaguely familiar but he couldn't place him. There was definitely something between the pair, or at least between their symbiotes. Was he the reason Sam let everyone believe she was dead? Had the Tok'ra prevented her from contacting the SGC? Had it been her choice? His speculation continued as the pair approached him on their way to the ceremonial stage.

There was a small disturbance at the back of the crowd as General O'Neill entered the gateroom with his aide following close behind. The general's progress came an abrupt halt as he recognized Anise climbing the steps to the stage.

"God damn snakes. They just had to send her didn't they?"

"Sir?" His worried aide nearly collided with him.

"Don't worry Mitchell. I'll behave," O'Neill growled. "Let's just get this over with before I'm overcome with the desire to shoot to kill. I'd hate to upset the PR flaks. And what the hell were they thinking to put this many people in the gateroom anyway?"

"Hoping to cut the pension rolls if anything went wrong, Sir?"

"Let's hope the SFs know to shoot the reporters first."

O'Neill worked his way through the crowd and failed to get a good look at the other two Tok'ra. The Tok'ra came to an abrupt stop just before the steps. The female Tok'ra reached out a hand to an elderly man on crutches.

As Garshaw and JD walked towards the stage, Sam watched from the background. She thought she recognized a couple of scientists from the SGC and then Garshaw's eyes fell on the face of man they both thought long dead.

/Garshaw? Please, let me out./

Garshaw came to a halt and allowed Sam to resume control.

"Daniel?" She whispered, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. Her hand brushed his face.

"Sam?"

"Oh God, Daniel. I was told you were dead, that you were all killed."

"Teal'c and Trainor were. I survived." He used his head to indicate his crutches. "Barely. And you? Jack said you were killed."

"I'm sure _he_ did. We need to talk, but not here."

Daniel had agree to the wisdom of that and so did the other Tok'ra if his nod was any indication. Several people near them were watching with undisguised curiosity. Fortunately, not one of them appeared to recognize her but it was unlikely that that would continue. He had spoken with Siler and Davis earlier that day. Those two, at least, should be able to figure out who she was. General O'Neill might recognize her, but then again, considering how the original had apparently forgotten her existence, maybe not.

"Later then."

Sam smiled her first real smile in years. A misty eyed Daniel returned it.

Garshaw retook control and she and her escort continued towards the stage. They climbed the short staircase and turned to face the crowd.

General O'Neill reached the first step. All he needed to do was make a quick speech. He walked across the stage. He was already planning to follow it with a hasty retreat. He pulled out his notes. There was no way he was going to spend one more second than absolutely necessary in Anise's company. Maybe he would get lucky and the Asgard would beam him out and he wouldn't have to even give his speech. He didn't look at the Tok'ra, in fact, he avoided it.

The Tok'ra, however, did look at the general. They had been told that following the conclusion of the war, a civilian had been given command of the SGC. None of them expected to see O'Neill. Anise and Garshaw were stunned at his youthful appearance, he had to be nearly ninety yet looked much as he had some forty years earlier. A cold rage filled Sam, nearly overcoming Garshaw. It took several moments before she remembered that it couldn't be Jack. The clone, it had to be the clone. Her fury subsided to a low burn but with Garshaw in control, no one was any the wiser.

O'Neill's speech was brief, much to the disappointment of the PR department. As he stepped away from the podium, Garshaw stepped up to it. She introduced herself and congratulated them on their victory over their mutual enemy. At the sound of an oddly familiar voice, O'Neill turned to look at Garshaw.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

Author Note: Conversations between host and symbiote appear /between slashes/.

* * *

O'Neill stared at Garshaw's host. It couldn't be Sam. Sam was dead. Sam was alive. Sam was a host. He didn't know if he was glad that she was alive. Garshaw finished her speech and stepped back from the microphone, but he hadn't heard a word of it. As the shock wore off, his anger began to mount. The Tok'ra had made her a goddamned host. He pulled himself together and moved back towards the podium for the question and answer period that followed.. 

The general managed to hold on to his temper and behave in a somewhat civilized fashion while fielding questions from the reporters. Garshaw also answered a few questions. Then, one reporter asked the indelicate question that had been in O'Neill's mind for the last half hour.

"What is the difference between the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra?"

Not much, Jack thought.

"The Goa'uld take hosts by force, the Tok'ra do not. Ours is a voluntary blending. The host gains the knowledge of the symbiote and an increased lifespan in return for sharing their body."

"Can I ask your host a question?"

/Sam/

/I'll do it./

Sam's head dropped as she took over control.

"What is your question?"

"Why did you chose to become a host?"

"Garshaw and Yosuuf, her previous host, had been friends of my family for years. When Yosuuf was fatally injured, I volunteered to serve as Garshaw's host."

"And how does your family feel about it?"

Sam looked at Daniel as she answered. "I lost most of my family in a Goa'uld attack several years before I blended with Garshaw. However, my father had been a host so I think he would have approved."

O'Neill followed Sam's gaze stopping as they reached an old man with bright blue eyes. A remnant of Jack's memory surfaced. _Daniel, I hardly recognized you with hair. _He still had hair, but it was a far cry from what he had sported during his first trip through the gate. Had Daniel known that Sam was alive? Had Jack? He forced himself to listen as a follow up question was asked.

"We've been introduced to Garshaw but not to you. That hardly sounds like an equal relationship. What is your name?"

"You have forgotten that our companions not were introduced either. Garshaw is a member of the High Council of the Tok'ra. In diplomatic matters, she is in charge. If this were a scientific conference, either Anise/Freya or myself would have been introduced."

/Sam.../

/Well it's the truth./

/Part of it. You're sounding more and more like a Tok'ra./

/After all this time, it would be a surprise if I didn't. Besides, it would hardly be diplomatic for me to say that I am under orders to be here. Sounds too much like the Goa'uld./

O'Neill didn't want to hear how Sam would identify herself. He used the pause to end the question and answer period. After thanking the distinguished guests, he tried to escort Sam off the podium only to be intercepted by the male Tok'ra.

"General O'Neill, may I ask you a question?"

O'Neill watched in fustration as Sam left the podium and walked over to Daniel. "Can it wait?"

"Of course."

The Tok'ra stepped aside to allow him to pass but it was too late, Sam had reached Daniel and disappeared into the crowd. O'Neill scowled and went to look for the pair.

"Anise, wasn't Mother's commanding officer named O'Neill?"

"Yes. He looks like the same O'Neill but it can't be. He is much too young."

"His son perhaps?"

"General O'Neill was betrothed when your mother was captured. This could be his son although he appears not to have aged as well as his father."

"The Tau'ri have an alliance with Asguard. Maybe they cloned him."

"Thor was fond of O'Neill. You may be correct. For now, I think we should find your mother."

* * *

After a quick consultation with one the day's coordinators, Sam and Daniel found themselves alone in a small office. After sitting down, Daniel leaned his crutches against the desk. Sam pulled up a second chair. 

"I saw you die. What happened?"

"A sarcophagus, what else?" Sam replied. "I was revived and held prisoner. The Tok'ra eventually found out and mounted a rescue operation."

"They didn't contact the SGC?"

"They contacted the SGC with evidence that I was being held prisoner." Sam said bitterly. "General O'Neill's response was that Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, along with the rest of SG-1, had been killed in action thanks to the Tok'ra."

"Wait a sec, the rest of SG-1?"

"You do look rather good for someone who supposedly died forty years ago."

"Although not as good as you." Daniel replied. "So the Tok'ra rescued you. Isn't that a bit, um, out of character for them?"

"It was, but Garshaw had a soft spot of my father and Selmac. She wasn't, isn't, as cold blooded as some on the High Council."

"But why didn't you come home?"

"To what Daniel? My team was dead. The SGC had declared me dead so I didn't even have Mark and his family to return to." Sam stared at Daniel. "You know how bad things had gotten here. My career was pretty much shot to hell before the mission."

"I know you Sam. You would have come back despite that. Was it because of Jack and Kerry?"

"My decision had nothing to do with that. It hurt to see them together but I stayed offworld because it was safer." Sam looked straight into Daniel's eyes. "My team was gone, I didn't have anyone on this planet that I could trust to watch my six."

"And you didn't trust Jack." It was a statement, not a question.

"How could I? I tried to talk to him about what was happening in the weeks leading up to the mission. He refused to listen. He left me behind enemy lines after receiving information that I was still alive. Jack," she spat, "knew which Goa'uld was holding me prisoner. It was Ba'al, Daniel. Jack knew and he still let me rot."

"No, he wouldn't have," Daniel was horrified.

"I share Garshaw's memories. She told him. He didn't give a damn."

"There's got to be something else. You said it was safer offworld. How? I mean, there was a war going on. There wasn't a System Lord out there that wouldn't have wanted to get their hands on a member of SG-1."

"When I was rescued, I was pregnant. There was no way in hell I was going to allow my child to fall into the hands of the NID or the Trust. My team was gone and I sure as hell wasn't going to trust my CO."

"Why would they want your child?"

"Because there was a possibility that he would be harsesis."

"His father," Daniel's voice trailed off as he realized why the third Tok'ra looked familiar.

Sam completed his sentence, "was Ba'al."


	5. Chapter 5

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

* * *

JD and Anise were unable to locate Garshaw and decided to split up to cover more ground. Moving between small clutches of people, JD came upon one face that he recognized.

"Excuse me. Major Haley, I am in need of your assistance."

The woman paused her conversation with her companion, turning to the Tok'ra. "Actually, it's Colonel Haley, retired."

"Of course. Forgive me. It has been a quite a few years since we last met."

She looked closely at the Tok'ra. "I'm sorry, I don't recall..."

JD smiled. "I was a child at the time. You knew me as Ja'dee."

"Ja'dee?" She was still drawing a blank.

"It is of no consequence, as I said, it was a long time ago. I am trying to find Garshaw. Have you seen her?"

"No, I'm afraid I haven't. She couldn't have gone far though, the base isn't that large."

"Perhaps not, however, I am worried."

Haley stiffened at his words. JD noticed and backpedaled quickly. "I meant no offense, it is that is unlike her to just disappear. She did see someone she recognized earlier, an elderly man with crutches. She called him Daniel I believe."

Haley's companion made his excuses and headed towards General O'Neill. As he passed by a couple of old gateroom technicians he was heard to mutter something about the shit hitting the fan. One of them made a comment that "Disaster" Davis must be having a flashback.

* * *

It had been nearly thirty minutes and he still hadn't found the missing pair. Daniel had been using crutches for crying out loud. They couldn't have gotten far. Of course, most of that time had been spent dodging reporters and old colleagues.

"Jack, we need to talk."

O'Neill turned around to see General Paul Davis (ret.).

"Can't this wait? I need to find her."

"Garshaw?"

"Did you know?"

"No, but we need to talk now. Alone."

"My office, you have five minutes." O'Neill led the way.

As Paul shut the door to the general's office, he asked "Do you still have that bottle of scotch? We're going to need it."

O'Neill reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out the bottle. He then grabbed two mugs from next to the coffee pot. He poured two fingers into each mug.

"Jack, I thought she was dead. Everyone did."

"What the hell happened? Haley told me that the mission went bad and only Daniel made it back. I tried to find out more but the records were sealed. They still are."

"Daniel barely made it back. Jack sent a couple of retrieval teams. Teal'c was found next to the DHD. When they got to Sam's last known position, there was nothing but a crater and part of her second. They had apparently taken a direct hit. We didn't find out until months later that she had survived and been take prisoner." Paul really didn't want to tell him the rest. The Joint Chiefs had buried this for a reason.

"And..." O'Neill prompted.

"You have to understand, Jack was under orders. There were to be no further rescue attempts at that time."

"What?"

"Jack was involved in an undercover operation attempting to root out compromised members of the SGC. You see, the rogue element of the NID had been slowly infiltrating the SGC for years. George suspected some members of the SGC had been suborned but didn't have the resources to do something about it until he became the head of Homeworld Security."

"Are you telling me that he suspected Carter? Because if you are, this conversation is over."

"No, of course not. SG-1 was above suspicion. The plan was to use them as a lightning rod for finding the malcontents. Jack slowly withdrew his support from the team. It became safe to criticize them. George had a CIA agent posing as an analyst sent in. She was his direct contact with Jack. She also helped build the illusion that Jack no longer gave a damn about SG-1 or Colonel Carter."

"Kerry?" O'Neill was appalled. "The marriage was damn fake?"

Paul nodded and took a large sip of scotch. "When word came from the Tok'ra that Sam was being held prisoner, he didn't break his cover."

"He wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't have left her behind."

"There was no way to tell if their information was any more accurate than their last bit of intel. If it was good, Sam had already been a prisoner for months and considering the Goa'uld in question, Jack was certain she was dead. The investigation was winding down and he couldn't jeopardize it, not for a woman who was probably long-dead. The investigation was too important."

"The records that I have gotten access to never mentioned which Goa'uld had her."

Paul stared at the mug between his hands.

"Paul. Who had her?"

"Ba'al."

An ashen faced O'Neill downed the rest of his drink. Some of his worst inherited memories were of Ba'al. How could _he_ have left her with Ba'al if there was any chance that she was still alive?

"He intended to send a retrieval team the moment the investigation was over just in case but he never had the chance. A week after they first contacted us, the Tok'ra sent us a message that Sam had been executed the month before."

"Those lying snakeheads." The anger and bitterness in his voice were tangible.

"Maybe they didn't lie. They could have gotten it wrong."

"Then why the secrecy? Why didn't they tell us she was alive? Why didn't they send her back? They made her a host, Paul. A goddamned host." Jack grabbed the scotch and poured more into his mug. "And to then waltz back in here, as if they had done nothing wrong."

"Jack, it may have been her choice."

"What?" Jack stared at Paul in disbelief.

"I spoke with Jack shortly before he retired. His guilt was eating him alive. When he withdrew his support from SG-1, some rumors about Sam began to surface. You know the type that can start when an attractive woman rises through the ranks as fast as Sam did. He didn't stop them, he couldn't without blowing his cover. Just before that last mission, Sam tried to talk to him about what was going on. He shut her out. As far as she knew, her career was on the skids, her CO wasn't going to back her up, and her team was dead. There wasn't much for her to come back to."

"She would have come back. They didn't let her."

"Jack, you don't understand how bad it was for her back then. The paperwork to bring in a new CO for SG-1 had been started and Sam knew it."

"What?"

"It was to maintain the illusion. The plan was to bring in the new guy and temporarily transfer Carter to Area 51 for the remainder of the investigation but as far as Sam knew, her command was being taken away, effectively ending her career."

"So you think she chose to stay with the Tok'ra."

"And Jack thought she had died believing that he betrayed her."

"Paul, he did betray her."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

* * *

Hailey stood alone in the crowd for a moment after General Davis had abruptly ended their conversation. She wondered what had set him off. A misplaced Tok'ra was hardly his concern. Heaven only knew that there was plenty of security on this portion of the base, it was unlikely that Garshaw had gotten very far. Maybe it was the mention of the old man with crutches. Could that have been Dr. Jackson? She shrugged the idea off. It wasn't likely. Sutterfield had lost contact with him decades ago and by now, considering the injuries he had sustained, he was probably long dead. 

She turned her mind to the male Tok'ra, JD or Ja'dee. She tried to remember when she might have met him. He called her Major Haley so it was at least eighteen years ago but not more than twenty-five.

The market on P2C-943, that had to be it. Her team had escaped from the local Goa'uld and had been trying to lose their pursuers in the marketplace. She had become separated from her team and was about to be recaptured when a tall boy with startling blue eyes dragged her into a small shop. They exited from the back of the building just as the jaffa were entering. He led her through the back alleys until they reached a small shack on the outskirts of town. There he introduced himself and set about finding some local clothing for her to wear. After sundown, he led her to the local stargate where her teammates were waiting. Later that day, when she was in the women's locker room at the SGC, a piece of parchment fell out of her borrowed clothing. The parchment contained a detailed map of the prison that they had just escaped from as well as details on planetary troop deployment and the location of a trinium mine.

A month later, the SGC and the rebel jaffa defeated the planet's System Lord. She had tried to locate the boy afterwards, but the natives said that he and his mother had disappeared weeks earlier. Just two more victims of the Goa'uld or so she had thought.

Was JD that boy? And since when did the Tok'ra use children? Did the Tok'ra recruit children as operatives and future hosts? Her opinion of the Tok'ra was only slightly better than her opinion of the Goa'uld but if they were recruiting children, they'd sink right down there with the rest of the snakes.

---

Silence filled the small room as Daniel tried to take it all in. The last four decades of their lives had been based on a lie, on a bed of lies to be more precise. Sam had been abandoned by the one man Daniel had once trusted above all others. He wondered if he ever really knew the man he once called friend. Deciding to stick with a safer topic for the moment, he queried her about their last mission.

"What happened on that planet? My memory is a bit fuzzy about the details. I remember seeing you and Teal'c die but not much about what was on the planet."

"That's probably because there wasn't much _on_ the planet. The ruins had been stripped long before we ever got there. The bits and pieces that we did find were planted by Ba'al. He made sure the Tok'ra found out about them. Since our, their, numbers were dwindling, he was hoping that SG-1 would be sent to investigate."

"Why SG-1?"

"He had a few scores to settle. Somehow, he knew what was going on in the mountain. General O'Neill was already out of reach since he rarely went off-world. He knew I was going to be transferred out of the SGC and that you and Teal'c were also going to be reassigned. This was his last chance. "

"A leak in the SGC?"

"I think so and I'm guessing as large a leak as any the Tok'ra ever had."

"Wait, you said that I going to be reassigned?"

"You and Teal'c. The word Ba'al had received didn't indicate why but he convinced that his intel was accurate. This was going to be his last shot at the old team." Sam hugged herself. "He wanted you and Teal'c dead. You opened the gate allowing the Tau'ri to challenge the System Lords. Teal'c was a figurehead for the Jaffa rebellion. He planned on making me a host, eventually. He just wanted to do a little experiment first. He wanted to know if the child of a host and a former host would be harceisis. He was planning to have me implanted after I gave birth."

"But you were rescued."

"By Garshaw and Anise."

Okay, he really hadn't expected Anise to be part of a rescue party. "You're joking about Anise, right?"

Garshaw decided it was time to enter the conversation.

"She took a little convincing but she came to realize the importance of the mission. It was our fault that Ba'al had captured Sam."

"Garshaw, don't take this wrong way but the Tok'ra never cared in the past. You rarely if ever sent out rescue parties for your own people let alone the Tau'ri."

"And it had cost us dearly over the centuries. There was only the war with the System Lords. We were too single minded, too ready to sacrifice anything and anybody for that goal. There were some exceptions," Garshaw paused a moment as she remembered Lantesh and Jolinar, "but we had become emotionally detached. The Tok'ra lost many our brethren because it had become easy for us to let them die. Your people never really trusted us for that reason. Jacob and the Tau'ri showed us a different way but we are an old race, slow to change. Even now, with the System Lords defeated, there are those among our ranks who believe that the old ways are still the best."

"But why try to rescue Sam? She wasn't Tok'ra."

"It was our information that caused her capture. With the loss of Selmac and Jacob, SG-1 was our only link to the Tau'ri. The loss of SG-1 severed that link. Your people were vital to defeating the System Lords. We had hoped to mend the rift between our people by rescuing its only survivor."

"Then why not send her back?"

"Because she did not want to return. As Jacob's daughter, she was offered a place among the Tok'ra, not as a host but as a scientist and soldier. Her child would be safe. It was more than your world offered her."

"But she did become a host," Daniel stated.

A blond head dipped in response as Sam took over from Garshaw.

"It was several years later Daniel, and it was my choice. Garshaw and Yosuuf had become close friends. When Yosuuf was fatally injured, I volunteered."

"What about your son?"

"He was born among the Tok'ra. I was spent much of my time in their laboratories with Anise and Garshaw. They were already helping me raise him. Becoming Garshaw's host changed nothing except that Aunt Yosuuf was gone."

"And Aunt Garshaw looked like mommy," Daniel concluded. A previously unthinkable thought crossed his mind. "Auntie Anise?"

His old friend chuckled. "That was rather surprising but she and Freya actually like children."


	7. Chapter 7

Title: What Remains

Author: Rude's Mom

------

Two old generals quietly finished their scotch. Each lost in his own thoughts.

The younger man placed his empty mug on the desk and stood up. He ran his hands through his graying hair.

"I've got to find her Paul."

Davis looked up at him. The pain in the younger man's eyes bringing back memories of another man from a long ago time. Paul had seen what the final loss of Colonel Carter had done to the first General O'Neill. Once that last ill-fated assignment was completed and the NID's plants had been removed from the SGC, O'Neill had submitted his resignation. The sham marriage to Kerry dissolved, Jack retreated to his cabin, shunning all human, and alien, contact. Less than two years later, Colonel Davis has completed the cover up when he watched the general's casket being lowered into the ground next to the empty grave of Colonel Carter.

"Are you sure you want to?"

"Do I want to face the mess the old man left behind. Hell no. But it's Carter...Sam." His brown eyes were filled with a curious mix of anger and hope.

"She was Sam, Jack. It's been forty years. You don't know who she is now. What she is now," Paul placed his mug alongside Jack's and stood up as well, albeit far more slowly. "The Samantha Carter you knew would have come home a long time ago. This Carter is a Tok'ra and has been one for decades. She's not the officer, or the woman, you knew."

"I don't believe that. I can't. Even with the Goa'uld, something of the host survives."

"Then why didn't she at least contact us before now?"

Jack opened the office door before pausing for a moment. "How do I know she didn't? How do you? For all we know, that was covered up too."

"Jack, be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

As Jack left his office, Davis reached for the bottle of scotch.

- - -

In another office, two old friends continued to reconnect, trying to make sense of what had so many years ago.

"So Daniel, what are you doing these days?"

"Enjoying retirement, spending time with the grandkids."

"You had children." Sam smiled, happy that her friend hadn't spent the years alone.

"Just one, Claire, but she's given me three grandsons."

"Wow, three?"

"So far. She's expecting again. My wife's hoping for a girl this time."

"I'm so glad you finally had a chance to have a family."

"It wasn't something that I ever expected to have," Daniel smiled. "I took a teaching position back east after leaving the program. I met Marie at a faculty party, she was a physics professor. Thanks to you, I could actually understand what she said. We married two years later."

"When you did leave the program?"

"I quit the SGC before I got out of rehab. I was never going through the gate again, not on these legs. If things had been different, I might have stayed but with you and Teal'c gone..." Daniel sighed. "Remember when you said Jack's pulling away after his promotion was a military thing? After the mission he got worse, a lot worse. Let's just say if I had stayed I probably would have shot him. There wasn't anything to hold me here. I'd lost too much. The Pentagon convinced me to transfer to Area 51. I tried it for a couple of years but my heart just wasn't in it any more."

"I'm so sorry."

"Why? It wasn't your fault. We were set up. It wasn't the first time."

"It was just the last time for us."

"Well for me."

"And Teal'c.

"And Trainor."

It took a moment before she figured out that Daniel was referring to the fourth member of SG-1. She was ashamed to realize that she didn't even remember what the young man's first name was or what rank he had held.

"Sam?"

"Just lost in thought." She mentally shook herself. "Let's talk about happier things. How old are your grandkids?"

- - -

Back in the gateroom, Jennifer Haley was involved in a rather heated discussion with several former members of the SGC. Dr. Chloe Felger and Dr. Coombs were arguing over what was the best episode of the mercifully short-lived _Wormhole Extreme. _Haley didn't care who won but there was something to be said for the sight of two octogenarians arguing over one of the worst televisions shows of all time. Unfortunately for the viewing public, the official announcement of the Stargate program had quickly led the resurrection of the show. Chloe's late husband would have been thrilled.

"Haley."

She turned to see General O'Neill heading in her direction. From the look on his face, whatever Davis had told him was not good news. She made her apologies to her companions and moved towards O'Neill.

He led her out into the hallway, rudely rebuffing anyone that attempted to impede them.

"Did you see where they went?"

"Who?"

"Daniel and Carter."

"Who?"

"Daniel Jackson, old guy with crutches," and that thought Jack, was just wrong.

"Dr. Jackson's still alive?"

"Apparently. He disappeared with Carter."

"One of the Tok'ra was looking for Garshaw. He said he thought she was with Daniel." Haley paused. "I didn't realize that Daniel was Dr. Jackson."

"Try this one. Carter is Garshaw's host."

Haley's jaw dropped.

This was not good.


End file.
